Catching Up With the News

Sometimes the news is bad and sometimes the news is good but the one thing one can count on is that if you allow your eyes to sink to the bottom of the page in any online article in The BDN ( and assumingly any other paper that allows comments) you will become disheartened. I hope that I am not so forcefully unintelligent as the people who seemingly spend thier whole day commenting on every article.

The story in Dexter, Maine last week was horrible. The man was clearly troubled, the system of protecting domestic violence victims needs to be improved but perhaps the truest statement made was that if someone does not care about his own life then many of the safeguards that are put in place are useless. One does wonder why based on the information provided in earlier complaints a mental evaluation was not completed but I am not here to second guess anybody. This is beyond my comprehension but also beyond my right to second guess anyone.

Paul LePage continues to stumble through his first year. He does have some acknowleged successes in getting his program through his tame legislature. The shame of it is that he has not governed as far to the right as one might have worried but the sideshow atmosphere of his administration takes focus from that fact.

The kids are out of school and summer begins. It seems a very short term for kids these days, when I was a child summers seemed endless but I suspect it is a question of perspective.

Texas Governor Rick Perry is considering a run for President. After Bush the second one cannot laugh off any candidate that if successful could be dangerous. This fellow makes Bush seem intelligent. Really!

Bill Clinton is on the cover of Newsweek explaining 14 ideas to fix the economy. Republicans always want to run the country like a business, tell me what successful business would not allow a successful CEO to come back to help the country when it hits hard times. That seemed to work pretty well for Apple when Steve Jobs returned. Clinton is the best politician of the times and he is being wasted.

Barack Obama continues to lose Liberal and Labor support but the question remains where will they go. Of course they could stay home.

Looking at the demographics of the country this might be one of the last elections for President that the Republicans can win without significantly altering their views on immigration. With the Hispanic population exploding it is just a matter of time before they will not be able to win with the views they espouse now.

I love my dog. He will play fetch for as long as you can throw it, and still smile at you with his toungue hanging out the side of his mouth. He snores in his kennel at night and loves to sit in the shade and chew his bones. I watched him outside today..it is a very calming thing to watch a satisfied dog.

My wife put up some bird feeders for Fathers Day. We are getting plenty of company already but none yet from the birds we want to see, the cardinals and orioles that we see in the neighborhood. Hopefully they will visit soon.

Clarence Clemons died over the weekend. Having seen Springsteen a few times it is hard to imagine how you replace Clemons Sax solos in all the classic hits.

My Mom's funeral was last week. She had always been adamant that she wanted to be cremated. She did not want bugs crawling on her. We got her a non bio degradable urn so she does not have to worry about that. I trust her soul is not with her body and that whatever heaven is she is there with Dad with my two brothers and they are all whole and healthy again. I hope so. I miss them all but feel better about them being together. It is a strange feeling being an orphan no matter what age you are.

The Red Sox continue to win and we feel a long fall of baseball coming on.

The Boston Bruins winning the Stanley Cup might be the best example of team that you will see. Watching the cup being passed from Chara to Recci to Bergeron and Thomas and then a cast of who is thats made you realize that a hot goalie can take you along way. Still hockey has a problem. The rate of concussions is growing every year and hits where the hitters are moving up or launching themselves need to be stopped.

As with football the athletes are just too big and too strong.

Summer is filling up with sports for the kids, a few projects around the house and a hope to get away to the lake a few times. Let's hope the weather is warm and the summer is dry.

I purchased tickets to take my son to see Bob Dylan late in the summer. His voice is shaky now but it will be an experience for him to see him.

My Mom loved lilac trees. I think we are going to get one.